This invention relates to a semiconductor apparatus, a power converter and an automobile having a motor driven by the power converter.
JP-A-11-89247 can be cited as one of the prior art references. This technology relates to a method of reducing a wiring inductance as a cause of the increase of a loss and the occurrence of a jump-up voltage at the time of switching by using a laminate conductor plate assembled by laminating wiring lines for connecting a semiconductor apparatus and a capacitor with an insulator sandwiched between them, and reducing an inductance at a wiring portion at which the semiconductor apparatus and the capacitor are connected.
Semiconductor apparatuses for controlling a large current use in many cases a semiconductor switch having a low ON resistance so as to reduce a steady loss of the semiconductor switch. The semiconductor switch having a low ON resistance generally has a low device withstand voltage. Therefore, the wiring inductance that may invite the occurrence of a voltage exceeding the device withstand voltage at the time of switching must be reduced in such a semiconductor apparatus.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor apparatus capable of reducing a wiring inductance as a cause of a jump-up voltage, a power converter, and an automobile using the power converter.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor apparatus including at least two controllable semiconductor switches, at least one output terminal and a case equipped with the output terminal, wherein positive and negative side conductor plates for bridge-connecting the semiconductor switches are laminated with an insulator sandwiched between at least a part thereof, and the positive and negative side conductor plates so laminated are exposed to a surface of the case.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power converter comprising a semiconductor apparatus and electrolytic capacitors, the semiconductor apparatus having a construction wherein positive and negative side conductors for bridge-connecting semiconductor switches are constituted into wide conductors or wide conductor plates, are so laminated as to sandwich an insulator between them, and are extended outside a case of the semiconductor apparatus, the electrolytic capacitors being connected to the extension portion of the positive and negative side conductors so laminated.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automobile having a motor driven by a power converter.
The technological contents of the present invention is not limited to the construction described above as will become more apparent from the following description of the invention.